Crafting Social: Free Webinar

How can crafts help communities come together and create opportunities for those who are often left behind? Can creativity give people the chance to develop new skills and improve their lives? Crafts bring people together, allowing individuals from all backgrounds to connect, grow, and contribute to their communities. Social inclusion programs using crafts, show how creativity can be a powerful tool for positive change.

Join the latest European Crafts Alliance's NEB webinar Crafting Social, where we will talk about how the creativity and entrepreneurship inherent to crafts, can help social inclusion. Exciting guest speakers and case studies from around Europe will explore how different crafts are being used to economically empower people with disabilities, people from disadvantaged environments and other vulnerable groups, as well as serve as a form of therapy, supporting mental health and wellbeing.

Keynote speaker:

Monika Auch (The Netherlands) STITCH_YOUR_BRAIN is an empirical study by Monika Auch, visual artist and medical doctor (n.p.) about the intelligence of our hands and the effect of creative making on health and well-being.

Case studies include:

Pomelaj (Slovenia) Pomelaj is a cooperative that offers employment to disabled and other vulnerable groups from the Prekmurje region. By respecting local traditions and skills, they aim to create new opportunities for employment and the development of rural areas.

The Exchange (United Kingdom) The Exchange is an initiative that brings the three pillars of “Empowerment”, “Craft” and “Community” together, and aims to enable high-quality local arts + crafts production, support powerful + diverse “making communities”, and host and enable wider civic and community programmes.

The webinar is free of charge and open for all to attend. The webinar is part of the ECA New European Bauhaus webinar programme.